PrecisionHawk tests drones in the Triangle, adds paraglider to the mix

Enlarge The Lancaster, a drone developed by PrecisionHawk, flying over a field. Somewhere in the Triangle sky, a drone is flying suspiciously close to a paraglider – and it’s on purpose. Raleigh drone developer PrecisionHawk, tasked earlier this year by the feds with researching ways to allow drones to safely fly beyond their pilot’s line of sight , is in the initial phases of testing for what’s called LATAS, Low Altitude Tracking and Avoidance Systems. And it involves a few brave pilots. “We have a very well-defined scientific research plan,” assures PrecisionHawk Business Development Director Tyler Collins . “There’s never any harm to the UAV or the paraglider.” Flights taking off in the Triangle today could some day lead to the much-talked about drone delivery flights at Amazon and Wal-Mart. And farmers in North Carolina want to use technology carried by the drones to detect and prevent problems with yield. But this week, there’s no fancy flying; the tests will establish the variables. Specifically, the paraglider is flying so that researchers can determine how aware a drone pilot is of what else is in the sky without any technological aids. “We’re really just using it to measure those distances […]